1. Field of the Invention
The present invention pertains to mounting of devices, such as garage door sensors, intrusion and motion alarms, which detect a condition by projecting a beam through an area of interest and monitoring the beam to detect the condition of the beam after passing through the area of interest.
2. Description of the Related Art
Over the years, various arrangements have been proposed for the automatic control of garage door operations. In one popular arrangement, a sensor beam is made to travel across the garage door opening, preferably in a direction generally parallel to the garage floor. Passage of the beam across the garage door opening is continuously monitored and if the beam is broken, action is automatically taken by the garage door opener system, usually, either to raise the garage door or to suspend further power-driven operations. The detector beam can be adjusted to a desired height above the garage floor so as to sense the area of activity with which an owner/operator is most concerned. For example, the beam may be located approximately one foot from the floor to ensure that it is broken by all pets and humans, including children, even those of relatively small stature, who may be present in the doorway.
It is frequently desired that the components associated with transmitting and receiving the beam path be located some minimum distance off of the garage floor so as to avoid unnecessary contact with moisture, road salt or other contamination likely to be found in a garage or driveway environment. Further, it is frequently desired that the components associated with transmitting and receiving the detector beam be located indoors, protected from the elements, while being located very close to the garage door since the operation of the garage door is the activity sought to be controlled by the detector beams. Garage doors commonly run in tracks, one of which is located at either side of the doorway. The tracks, when mounted to the doorway, stick out several inches from the doorway into the garage and, accordingly, may present an obstacle to the passage of a detector beam.
Commonly, the detector beam components have been connected to brackets which are attached to the walls of the garage. Such brackets are frequently lag screwed to the studs of the wall parallel to the surface of the door. Such attachment requires location of wall studs and the task of screwing the brackets to the studs at both sides of the door. The brackets also must protrude far enough from the wall so that the tracks on which the garage door travels do not block the beams of the detector beam components. The difficulty of mounting the detector components to the walls adds to the complexity of the assembly of garage door opening systems.